


The Sun Rises

by TheLionOfStarlight (BasicallyAnIdiot)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender, 大神 | Okami (Video Games)
Genre: But you should go play it because it's a gorgeous game, It doesn't slow him down, M/M, SHEITH - Freeform, Shiro isn't human, White Lion - Freeform, You don't need to be familiar with Okami, alternative universe, s7 compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 02:18:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15809313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BasicallyAnIdiot/pseuds/TheLionOfStarlight
Summary: The Gods play with loaded dice and hedged bets.And Shiro was their biggest gamble yet.





	The Sun Rises

**Author's Note:**

> Wowie- finally made it. I've rewritten this about three times now and while I could probably continue to play with it for the next three months I'm calling it quits here. Because sometimes you just have to let it go. I got other WIPs staring longing at me from the corner and haunting my dreams. 
> 
> This was an idea turning over and over in my mind for a while- Particularly after I learned that Okami HD was coming to the Switch. Then there was this wonderful [art post](http://pleasecomehome.tumblr.com/tagged/words-cannot-express-how-proud-i-am-of-shiro-he-has-come-so-far-and-sacrificed-so-much-and-yet-he-prevails-and-fights) on Tumblr from [pleasecomehome](http://pleasecomehome.tumblr.com/), and I just could not let it go. 
> 
> So here we go- my first crack at Sheith and the Voltron fandom in general.

 

**The Sun Rises**

~*~*~*~

 

_The mountain was still._

_Overhead the stars of the Heavens shone with a brightness found only in the silence of open space; they danced in a sky rose tinged black, a warm violet in between. Impossibly a dragon flew high above him, not one of those european beasts Keith was so fond of drawing in the margins of his notes but a long serpent-like creature, with whiskers and body twisting and twirling against the starlight._

_His feet were moving him up a stone path surround by towering blades of emerald bamboo. The silence of the forest was broken only by his soft steps and the bubbling of the stream that ran beside the stones. Every now and again he passed under giant crimson arches, mighty square beams set on top of equally large round pillars, that lined the trail up the hill. The taste of flowers filled the air._

_Shiro knew this place._

 

~*~*~*~

 

Shiro blinked his eyes open, breathing in the staleness of recycled air, listening to the comforting hum of Black. The metal of the cargo hold was the same it had always been, curiously absent any sign of wear and tear. He sat up slowly on his makeshift cot, the rough blanket pooling on his waist, and brought his hand over his face to rub away the sand. The dream slipped from his memory, wisps of a impossible place, but his hands felt warm. Like they had been in Earth’s sunlight.

His mind was playing tricks on him. He only had one hand. Idly, he lowered it from his face and turned it slowly in the soft violet glow of Black’s cargo hold. The same as it had always been-  scarred and calloused. Shiro had lost feeling in a couple of the fingers from damage that not even the Altean healing pod could fix.

A tanned hand settled on his left shoulder, firm and unflinching. “Shiro? You okay?” It took a moment, but he eventually turned to Keith and saw, just for a split second, how the younger man _glowed,_ starfire licking around his edges.

Shiro blinked, and the glow and fire was gone but Keith’s frown remained. “Shiro?” There was a warning in there, concern masking as indifference. How no else saw passed that, how it fooled the Garrison, Shiro would never understand.

He swallowed once, then twice. “I’m fine.” Shiro shook his head and the dream faded entirely.

Keith was silent at that. He dropped his hand from Shiro’s shoulder to ask, “Do you want to talk about it?”

The lack of warmth on his shoulder sent a shiver through the older man, the chill of space pressing in through the sudden void. His mind felt sluggish, and Shiro slowly shook his head, “No. It was just a weird dream.”

The Galra halfling didn’t look convinced, but he stood up, moved away to give some space and didn’t press. “Come on. Mom made a new simulator.” The smirk Keith had did not bode well for the rest of the team, and Shiro could feel his lips lift upwards in response.

“You’re really sticking to the routine thing, aren’t you?” Shiro rolled his shoulder as if he still had the weight of an arm there and there was a satisfying crack. His back ached from the hard surface of the crates he had slept on, but he had survived much, much worse. Rotating out of the cot, he stretched as he stood up. If he hurried, he would be able to complete a set of his exercise routine before Keith would manage to get the the rest of the team up.    

“Learned from the best.” Keith murmured as he made his way up to the ladder to Black’s cockpit. Shiro felt his smile widened, dropped to the floor and started his one-handed pushups.

 

~*~*~*~

 

_He was smaller, sitting in the lap of a woman who radiated warmth, surrounded by the yards and yards of her colourful robes. The colours of a sun rise. It was the safest place in the universe. No harm could come to him here and few would dare try._

_A finely boned hand, slim and dainty, firmly guided Shiro’s smaller, chubbier one as he painted. His calligraphy brush moved steadily across the silk scroll, faithfully recreating the pondscape before him in ink._

_Water flowed smoothly over a pile of stone in a rounded corner, trickling softly into the pond. Not even the lily pads or cattails were disturbed. A walking trail of worn stone carved a path around, carefully laid so as not to annoy the local spirits. He walked it almost daily._

_The woman let out a huff of bell chime laughter into his ear when he added a tree to the image that wasn’t there. She said something, voice soft and melodious but muffled and impossible to understand._

_Shiro pointed to the spot he had painted in the tree, a place of full of wild grasses and lupins between the path and the water’s edge. A cherry tree bloomed into existence, blossoms swaying, as if it had always been there._

 

_~*~*~*~_

 

The dream disappeared, like a cloud of smoke, leaving behind only the smell of flowers and cherry trees. Shiro moved slowly, pulling himself up and away from the wall of Green’s cargo hold, shaking the thought away. His legs were cramped from sleeping sitting up, but otherwise his body didn’t protest the abuse.

He had grown restless in Black. A redundancy surrounded by all the things that had once been his. No Lion needed two Paladins and Shiro was so proud of Keith: Keith who led Voltron, who held the respect of his team and the Black Lion, who would go the ends of the universe and back for any of the Paladin.

The sudden silence in Shiro’s connection to Black was jarring.

Something was lost and he didn’t know how to find it. Without it, he wasn’t needed. Not any more. The mantle of Black Paladin was Keith’s burden to bear now. The best Shiro could do was offer advice, but the final decision for the team rested with Keith and Keith alone.

Taking a breath Shiro had to remind himself that it could have been worse: he could have still be in Black’s consciousness, screaming into the void in a half hope one of the other Paladins would hear. This body may not have been distingrating, slowly but surely, like his original one but some days it felt… tight. Like there was too much in it, but not enough to break it. Perhaps a little bit of Black came with him?

Once he had shoved the thoughts to the side, Shiro made it up the ladder to see Pidge playing an ancient video game. She didn’t even glance up at his arrival but smiled around a toothpick in her mouth and said, “Morning, Sleeping Beauty!”

She was surrounded by transparent vines, emanating a soft green glow as they connected with Green’s console. Buds bloomed into flowers covering the cockpit as Pidge defeated an imaginary enemy- only to shrivel when she lost moments later anyway. Shiro blinked and the vines were gone. He shook his head, “Hey, Pidge. How goes defending the elf lands?”

“Horrible.” She replied in disgust, setting her controller down to cross her arms. “But Kosmo will be by soon with supper.”

“Was I sleep that long?” It had been lunch not that long ago.

“About four hours,” Pidge shrugged, “But you looked like you needed it. ‘Sides, it’s not like there is anything else to do right now.” She held up a modified second controller, “Want to play? I’ve adapted so it only needs one hand.”

Shiro hadn’t played a video game… in years. At least since before Kerberos, and probably not for years before that. “Sure. I’d like that,” and accepted the controller easily.

 

~*~*~*~

 

_The wind was knocked from his chest as the woman’s fist struck home on his stomach. He landed hard on the dirt of the training grounds, wheezing but managed to tumble away. It should have been a roll- precious seconds would be lost as he found his feet._

_His opponent was already darting away, too fast to make out her face, lining up her next move. She leapt high backwards just before the ring of trees encircling the grounds, flipping to push off the air and started a drop kick aimed at him._

_Shiro dodged, barely, and the earth rumbled as her kick landed on the ground. A wave of flowers sprouted out from the impact. He would have bedridden for days if it had connected- though he knew the damage wouldn’t have been permanent. Like the rest of his kind, he was durable._

_The kick costed his opponent precious seconds to get back on her feet though and he leapt forward on the offensive. Steel grey eyes flashed at him and her hand shot out and backhanded him away._

_He rolled to his feet, cheek stinging as blood welled under his skin. Shiro’s breath was ragged, exhaustion pulled at his arms. He brought them up in a stance anyway._

_There was a vague sensation of the woman smiling at him, a proud voice telling him something as she stood, though he could not truly see her. Her form was blurred, like Shiro was looking at her through a rippled reflection._

_The spar began anew._

 

~*~*~*~

 

“I always get up.” Shiro murmured to himself. He didn’t remember the context from the dream, but for some reason, the line was important. The dreams were becoming more frequent. It was better than the nightmares in a way.

It gave him a headache if he tried to chase the dreams. He could never remember what happened, only fragments and whispers.

“What does that mean?” Keith was in his own cot beside Shiro’s looking up at the roof of the cargo bay. Close enough that Shiro could reach out and touch the other Paladin. Starfire was more prominent around the younger man, connecting him to Black like chains, and it took a couple of moments for it to disappear from Shiro’s vision. There was slight ruffling as the brunette rolled on his side towards Shiro. “Shiro?”

Shiro blinked, the last of the fire faded like a mirage. “I… don’t remember.”

Concern dominated Keith’s expression and he propped himself up on an elbow. “... Is this from your consciousness being transferred? Did Allura… miss some?”

He had to think about it, “No… she got it all. This is something… different.” Shiro sat up and rubbed the scar on his nose. “I’ve been having these dreams but I can’t- they won’t stay.”

A hand, smaller than his but just as strong, gripped his scarred shoulder just above the metal unflinching. Shiro looked up at the touch. Purple. Keith’s eyes were a dark purple, one of the only visible signs of his Galra heritage, and he stared intently at Shiro. The scar was prominent on his face. Shiro had been the one to give it to him. “They’re just dreams.You’re here with us.”

Him. Shiro was there with him. Somehow, in spite of the headache he had learned to associate with the forgotten dreams, that was more than enough to bring a smile to Shiro’s face. He dropped his right hand on top of Keith’s and squeezed. “Thanks Keith.”

Keith got a curiously blank expression on his face and he stared at Shiro’s hand. “No problem.” He said, almost coughing, slowly pulling his hand away from Shiro’s. “I’m gonna go... check our heading.”

Then Keith, possibly the most agile, graceful Paladin of the lot, almost ran _into_ the ladder instead of up it. Shiro was left behind more confused than ever.

 

~*~*~*~

 

_He was falling behind._

_Ahead of him on the footpath, almost towering over his form, a white wolf loped along with an effortless motion. The field of wheat around them swayed in the fall breeze. Shiro could smell everything- the cut hay, the brewing rice wine, fall flowers and a forest’s floor off in the distance._

_He couldn’t keep up. Too small. Too young. With each graceful stride the wolf was pulling away, a distant figure in his path. His own paws stumbled over the uneven terrain, and he fell into the dirt with a whimper._

_The wolf kept running._

 

_~*~*~*~_

 

There were screams and shouts over the intercom, Keith shooting back in terse tones. Krolia was offering suggestions that just weren’t working-

Shiro, gripping the back of Keith’s seat beside Krolia, could only hang on as Black started to succumb the gravity of the black hole, fighting hard against the pull. Keith had managed to knock Lance and Red clear to the rest of the Lions, but Black hadn’t been as fortunate. Kosmo arrived to grip Krolia and the wolf was turning to Shiro, to take him away and leave Keith behind.

Something snapped. Like a droplet sliding down a bamboo leaf into a pond. A calling from deep in his bones. Shiro closed his eyes, focused and _saw_ the waves in the time and space. Saw Black being pulled closer and closer to destruction and-

Shiro waved a memory of his right hand, a paintbrush in its grasp, invisible ink changing the ripples.

The result was instantaneous.

Black flew forward riding an impossible blast of solar wind from the black hole, clear of the gravity’s pull. The biggest Lion righted itself from where it landed well-past the others, almost as confused as it’s Paladin. Silence descended on the comms.

Shiro opened his eyes to see Keith blinking, checking his monitors, and asking his team, “Did that just happen?”

Lance radioed back first with an airy, _“Uh-huh.”_ Shiro could almost hear the crackle of fire in the static.

Pidge followed afterwards with a comforting, _“That’s not possible. You definitely should have been smushed.”_  The rustling of leaves accompanied her voice.

His grip on the back of pilot’s seat tightened suddenly, and Shiro suddenly felt breathless, like his chest was being constricted by an invisible weight. A throbbing, pounding headache made itself known, and his vision blurred with the pain.

Krolia noticed. She led Shiro down to the cargo hold before Keith noticed and helped him into his cot. There were questions in her eyes- that hawklike intelligent Keith shared with her missed nothing. But she asked none of them and dimmed the violet lights as best as she was able.

 

~*~*~*~

 

_He pulled himself up on unsteady legs. The bigger wolf was almost out of sight now, a blur of white against the sea of gold. His first step was hesitant; the next uncertain. Shiro broke out into a run, not even half as fast as the canine ahead of him._

_It was frustrating. He wanted to catch up, to prove his worth even as a pup. That he could do this. He could keep up._

_He would keep up._

_His will rippled across the land and one step he was falling behind, the next he landed in a tumble in the middle of path. Like he was in Black shooting across the stars._

_The wolf stumbled in surprise at his arrival in her way, her steel grey eyes wide in shock. She frantically tried to stop before she hit him. A paw hit a stone and the wolf flipped over herself to land, somewhat dazed, flat on her belly inches from him. Her legs sprayed out around her. A cloud of dust drifted up and blew away._

_His body wagged with his tail, and he leaned closer to touch noses with the much bigger wolf. She huffed at him._

 

_~*~*~*~_

 

It was Krolia who greeted Shiro upon his return to the land of the living, the familiar feel of a dreaming slipping away from him heavy on his mind. Unlike her son, there was no unusual glow around her. His headache had subsided, leaving him feeling... drained. Like the day after a marathon.

The Blade looked so much like Keith. From her build to the shape of her face, even the colouring in some ways. Meeting Krolia hadn’t been half as surprising as seeing Keith, older and taller, after the transfer had settled. In the faint glow of the cargo hold, the figure could have been either mother or son. Amber eyes flicking up to look at him were what gave Krolia’s identity away.

She watched him the same way a cat watched a mouse. A hint of wariness tinged it though, like she was expecting him to lash out, “Good morning.”

“Morning.” Shiro replied with a soft grunt, his hand rubbing his temple. He started finger-combing his hair into a semblance of order. “How’s the team?”

Krolia gave a shrug. “Shaken, but otherwise fine.” Her expression was impassive, giving away nothing as to what her thoughts were. “How are you?”

“Better.” Shiro swung his legs over the edge of the crates, feeling the cool of the metal under his feet shoot up his legs. Steadying when he felt like his limbs were made of jelly.

Keith’s mother kept her place against the wall. “You know,” She began, arm crossing as she observing him stretching. “When you travel in deep space, you tend to encounter strange rumours. Most are just spacedust. False.”

Shiro slowly bent to the side and held the position. “Oh.”

She titled her head in a manner Shiro had seen a hundred times from Keith. “One such tale was about a race known only as Celestials. Beings that could change the very fabric of reality and were worshipped for it.”

The bottom of his stomach dropped. Shiro straightened slowly, keeping his breathing even. It still sounded loud in his ears. Barely more than a whisper, he said, “I’m just human.” Even as he said it, the words felt fake. Like he had bitten into charcoal and coated his mouth with ashes.

Krolia tilted her head, “You have survived what no human could have. In the Arena and at Haggar’s hands. You survived your entire consciousness being stuffed into a sentient robot lion and then being pulled out again.” Her eyes narrowed, “Do you really think you’re just human?”

He didn’t have an answer.

Krolia pushed off of the wall and made her way to the ladder, “The Galra empire searched for Celestials for years and never found a trace,” she glanced back over her shoulder, “Let’s keep it that way.”

 

~*~*~*~

 

_Shiro was on the mountainside again. Higher up now, the bamboo grove interspersed with majestic pines almost as tall, his breath came out in a cloud of fog. It would take forever to walk, but running at this altitude would exhaust him._

_He had to reach the top, the end of the stairs, at the mountain’s peak. The why eluded him, he only knew that it was important. He was being tugged up the stairs._

_A glance down showed his usual outfit of armour replaced with a heavy white robe tied closed by a scarlet, silk sash. Ink black flowers with gold threaded centers adorned the hems of the long sleeves and faded as they climb towards his shoulders. Wide black pants were stuffed into leather greaves and, of all things, he wore hard leather boots that bled into the leg guards. It fitted him perfectly._

_Raising his arms up, his sleeves dropped. Both of his hands were covered in crimson markings- delicate but tribal. Almost tattoos, like someone had taken a pot of red ink and painted them on._

 

~*~*~*~

Krolia had left with Kolivan on a mission that came before all else.

(At a distance, Keith took it well but Shiro had known the younger man too long to be completely satisfied with the appearance. He endeavoured to stay on Black, to be near when he could, and saw the faraway looks and clenched fists)

It was late, at least by the routine the team had settled on, and the Paladins had set their Lions on a heading and gone to their cots and beds. Shiro was on the first watch, sitting in Keith’s chair and watching the stars and monitors in equal measure. Space, he concluded, was not truly black. There were hints of other colours, of blues and reds and yellows and greens. Stars that flared in different colours, asteroid belts and comet tails.

The comm beeped, and a video from Blue popped up. Coran- with hair mussed by sleep, waved before yawning, _“Evening, Shiro! I’m ready to take the next watch.”_

“Thanks, Coran.” Krolia’s words came back to him, and Shiro asked, “Hey, Coran? Do you know anything about Celestials?”

The Altean blinked in surprise, tiredness fleeing, _“I sure do! They are an amazing people. Defenders and protectors of life, they travelled across the galaxies in their little sub-realms, helping out when they could. Sometimes even setting up shop to protect one planet or social system. The best part was you’d never know if you met one!”_

Shiro leaned back into the chair, considering the answer. “What do you mean, you wouldn’t know one if you met one?”

Coran shrugged, brushing his hair back into a semblance of order. _“Well, Celestials don’t exist on this plane of reality like we do, Shiro my boy. They are much more in-tune with the universe and can appear in a variety of forms, doing things beyond the rest of us. Some say that the Celestials don’t even have bodies, only the appearance of one or can take over one.”_

Stars sped by as Shiro processed it. “Thanks, Coran. Have a good shift.”

 

~*~*~*~

 

_A mountain wind blew down the path, ruffling the long sleeves as Shiro stared at both of his hands._

_It was wrong._

_Shiro only had one arm now. A testimony of the last few years of his life. The challenges faced and overcome. Of getting up more times than he fell down._

_The dream shifted, bending to his will, and Shiro felt the odd clothes shift and change into his usual black armour. His arm vanished into smoke, replaced by the metal on his shoulder. The odd crimson markings stubbornly stayed on the remaining arm, dripping down to his fingers, but he was ready to continue._

_He took a step._

 

_~*~*~*~_

 

They arrived to an Earth under siege.

The more he saw, the sicker Shiro felt. Earth was dying. Its people stood no more of a chance against the Galra than an ant did before a boot. The planet was being stripped of its metals, its waters contaminated, mountains levels and cities destroyed. It made his head spin and heart _ache._

Donning a uniform he thought he’d never see again, Shiro became Captain Shirogane once more.

With ‘Cadet’ Kogane his ever loyal shadow.

 

~*~*~*~

 

_The woman was angry, almost snarling at the odd man as Shiro watched from the crack between the sliding paper doors. He could not see her face, only the beautiful layers of coloured robes spread out on the floor behind her as she paced the polished wood._

_Behind her, looking out of place in the paper and wood of the room, a monitor of Moon Tribe’s favoured blue alloy displayed a staticky picture of a purple… ship. Huge and menacing, accompanied by others of various sizes, floating around the Earth._

_Blond hair bounced as the man shook his head, hands in the sleeves of his pink robes. His reply was quiet and sure. The prophet. It was a scene of the future then._

_A growl left the woman’s throat and when she spoke again it was harsh and cold. The blond man flinched under the weight._

_Shiro slid the door open, startling both occupants, and said something, muffled and in a language he hadn’t heard since his grandparents died._

 

_~*~*~*~_

 

“Send me.” The words were his, but not. A memory of a memory, familiar but not quite.

Shiro blinked, turned towards the alarm clock and wished he hadn’t. The hour was late- or early depending how he looked at it. His rooms didn’t have any exterior walls, but it had a kitchenette in the main room and a private room- the best the Garrison could find on short notice. At least the hum of the electricity was similar to being in Black’s cargo hold. Windows were luxury it seemed.  

The dream left him breathless and restless even if he couldn’t remember it.

His new arm whirled to life silently as he stood, coming to float in its new place. He dressed in his gym outfit, grabbed a gym bag, and made his way down the flights of stairs.

Shiro wasn’t even remotely surprised to find Keith at the punching bag, and smiled at him as he approached.

 

~*~*~*~

 

_He was bigger now, better able to keep up with the wolf racing ahead, but this form didn’t feel right any more. It didn’t make sense- Shiro had this form since he was born, moved easily between it and another like breathing. But it didn’t fit any more._

_Like he had outgrown it._

_His paws shifted as he ran- dainty wolf paws growing in size and changing in shape with each stride. Retractable claws grew, visible only when his paws flexed. The field of vision he had known for centuries shifted as well- now he towered over the wolf and she could have just as easily darted under him._

_Speed was lost, but the strength gained by the change was enthralling._

_Shiro had finally grown up._

 

_~*~*~*~_

 

He stood on the outside of a Galra Battle Cruiser entering Earth’s atmosphere without his helmet and knew without a doubt he would survive. Or if he didn’t, it would be because of Sendak and not the lack of oxygen.

The fight was fast and brutal- and he might have won if it not for the Galra cruiser crashing into the planet’s surface. Shiro survived, never doubted that he wouldn’t, not sure where the certainty came from, but moving was out of the question.

His opponent had no such problem.

The memory burned in its formation. Dust clouded the air, clogging his lungs as he tried to even out his breathing. A shadow, menacing and tall and how was Sendak still _alive_ -

Keith saved him. It was probably the most beautiful thing Shiro had seen yet.

Back on the  Atlas- his broken bones were already healing. Shiro knew it the same way he knew the crash wouldn’t kill him. He was able to stand long before it should have been possible. Able to run on legs broken less than an hour before. Reaching the command deck just in time to see Voltron hit the earth hard, energy drained.

It chilled him to the core. Like he was stuck in the middle of a blizzard with no shelter, no options.

The Atlas wasn’t fast enough or strong enough to provide more than a few bursts of cover fire. The blasted new robobeast- if it was such a thing- was pain on top of pain.

They were going to lose. They were giving their all but it wasn’t enough. The Paladins would lose. Earth would be destroyed. Keith- No.

Shiro wouldn’t let it.

It was like the black hole, but so much more. Realities stretched out around him as Shiro closed his eyes - circuits and metal, electricity and glass- each available for his call. Humming so loudly with possibility how had he ever missed it. Ready. Waiting.

Shiro painted what he knew. Of Black and Red and Blue and Green and Yellow. Of dreams and memories, gardens springing into bloom, and-

The Atlas bowed to his will, his command, and _changed_.  

 

~*~*~*~

 

_Shiro was near the top of the mountain now. The pine trees fading, snowdrifts covering some of the stone path. He had to struggle through- breaking snow higher than his legs as the wind howled and whipped flakes of ice into his face._

_Though his breath came out in clouds, he didn’t feel the cold the way he should have. It was a minor inconvenience, like being brushed with a feather made of chilled water._

_The peak was in sight. A thin line between pure white snow and stormy grey skies. He pushed hard towards it._

_Finally, after hours or minutes, he stepped on stone. The wind ceased. The snow was gone- it never dared touch the mountain’s top- and a cherry tree, bigger than any he had ever seen in pictures or otherwise, stood in full-bloom._

_A woman stood with her back towards him in front of it. Colourful layered robes spread out like a wave behind her on the grass. Long white hair cascaded down a back so straight it could have been used to square a house._

 

_~*~*~*~_

 

Irony of ironies, after all the time he spent in the hospital waiting, Shiro wasn’t there when Keith woke up the first time.

He was there for the second time, his human hand gripping Keith’s as had become his habit while he scrolled through the rebuild reports on a tablet. Idly his thumb rubbed back and forth on the slightly tanned skin of a calloused hand, feeling the bump and ridge of each scar.

It was quiet, almost a whisper. “Shiro?”

The tablet dropped to his lap and he almost pulled his hand away with a startled, “Keith-” only for Keith grip it like it was a lifeline. Even injured, pulled back from death’s door, Keith was strong. Strong enough that if he didn’t want to let go, Shiro couldn’t make him.  

Purple eyes, a strange mix of darken skies, red sunsets and starlight, blinked at him. Keith glanced at their clasped hands and then back up to Shiro.

Shiro’s face burned all the way to his ears and, quite suddenly, he did not feel like an adult responsible for humanity’s survival. More like he was back in middle school and he couldn’t find his words. “It’s- I mean I wouldn’t-”

Keith snorted and gently pulled their entwined hands to his lips and kissed the back of Shiro’s hand. He let them drop to his lap, meeting Shiro’s gaze and added with a smirk, “Took you long enough.”

 

~*~*~*~

 

_She turned slowly when Shiro approached, looking maddingly familiar, and met his gaze squarely. Steely grey wolf eyes bore into him. A heart-shaped face, timeless beauty. Red markings, complex and intricate dusted across her cheeks and forehead. Her smile was soft, secret. In a melodious voice, she asked. “Do you know who you are yet?”_

_Shiro straightened his own back to match her perfect posture. “I am Takashi Shirogane of Earth, captain of Atlas, a defender of the universe.”_

_Her smile was proud but sad. “So it is.” She fell silent. Petals fell from the tree and danced between them. She started to turn away._

_“I know you. I know this place.” Shiro said suddenly, catching her before she finished her motion. “But I can’t remember how.”_

_The woman blinked slowly, eyes wide in surprise as she turned back to him. Her bittersweet smile flirted with hope. “Then perhaps not all is lost.” She held out a delicate hand, a lotus blooming in it, and blew the petals away._

_They landed on Shiro and disappeared. His head spun and he fell to his knees. The woman stepped close and cradled his head in her hands. She kissed his white hair, and the pain and dream were gone._

 

~*~*~*~

 

Shiro remembered.

The dreams. The memories. All of it.

Sitting up in bed, Shiro pulled a strand of his white hair down in front of his eyes to examine it more closely. Starlight flickered with the motion. It hadn’t been coincidence that his hair turned white then. If he looked in a mirror, his markings would probably be back. Or had they ever left? Had they been there, just beyond his sight, all this time?

It didn’t make sense, he had died. Chibiterasu’s essence should have been lost-

But Black. Big, beautiful Black caught it. Held on to it.

Shiro snorted softly. Black had held onto a Celestial, and… being put back into a body started the process to regain his powers. But then... would he have had to die either way to regain the memories?

An lean arm stretched out around his waist, a scarred hand tugging at his pajama shirt, until he looked back to the pillows into bleary eyes the colour of the Celestial Plain’s night sky peering out from under a mound of blankets. Starfire, every colour under the sun, burned bright around him. A pure soul, battered and bruised, accepted and changed by Black and Red. “Wha?”

“Don’t worry about it.” He slid back down, pulling the younger man close, willing the fire from his vision. It was indulgent, the kiss he planted on Keith’s mop of hair. His blessing’s shimmer, health and luck, fading into the locks. Energy shared like he had all the time in the world for it. “There’s somebody I want you to meet later,” He breathed into the locks, smelling the campfire that he never knew seemed to follow the younger man around.

Keith grunted what sounded like, ‘sure’ or maybe ‘whatever,’ and pressed back into Shiro’s side and wrapped around him like a long limb octopus. “Go back to sleep.”

“It’s almost dawn.” Shiro protested half-heartedly as he pulled the blankets back over them. His rooms had been spared in Black’s crash landing- but the gaps in the buildings meant the frozen desert night air got everywhere.

Keith shifted just enough to stare at him like he had two heads. “How could you possibly know that?”

Shiro pulled him close, “Don’t worry about it.” It earned a grunt, but slowly Keith’s breathing deepened and evened out, Shiro’s hand rubbing his back all the while.

 

~*~*~*~

 

The lake was small, and while Keith was clearly intrigued with what Shiro was doing he was vocal about his suspicions. “Who is it we’re going to meet?”

Shiro didn’t respond. He had forgone his uniform for the trip, settling for a much more comfortable leather bomber jacket over a t-shirt and jeans. He crouched at the shoreline, sorting through the wave polished stones.

His fingers brushed over a perfectly round stone, peeling the glamour away, and he raised the mermaid coin triumphantly to the sunlight. Standing, he looked back to where Keith was leaning against a tree. “Do you trust me, Keith?”

The Black Paladin’s brows furrowed at the question, pushing away from the tree and stepping beside Shiro at the water’s edge. “To the stars and back.”

Shiro’s heart did something funny and he felt warm all over. He was probably grinning something stupid but he didn’t care. It was his one day off this week and he got to spend it with Keith. More importantly, he got to tell Keith everything. He was almost giddy when he said, “Hold my hand.” 

Keith raised an eyebrow but gripped his human hand tight. His new prosthetic stretched out over the water an arm’s length and dropped the mermaid coin. The water rippled as the stone was swallowed, the ripples slowly turning turbulent as the maelstrom formed at the epicenter.

He grinned at Keith, seeing the surprise and shock on his face, and pulled him into the rushing waters.

 

~*~*~*~

 

The Celestial Plains hadn’t changed.

The night sky was full of stars brighter than any they had seen back home- colours they had only seen travelling in the Lions filled the spaces between them. Everything was vibrant, colours fuller, more perfect. It was as he left it all those years ago.

A lifetime ago. A lifetime of being Shiro.

He stepped out onto the long dock, built in the traditional style requiring no nails or pins, pulling Keith up with him out of the bright starlight water. The edge of the Plains was a few kilometers out, where the waterfalls poured off. Beside him, Keith’s head turned to examine their surrounding slowly, as if it was a Galra base he had to infiltrate. “Where are we?”

“It has a lot of names. The most common one is the Celestial Plains.” Shiro inhaled, the smell of flowers and warm summer time breezes filled his senses. It was clean in a way Earth hadn’t been in years. Fresh and light.

“Uh-huh.” Keith’s eyes never stopped darting around, assessing. “And you know about this place, how?”

Shiro glanced back at his partner, watching his expression. “It was my home.”

Keith’s face locked down. Shutting Shiro out of any sign of what he was thinking. The Paladin’s right hand twitched, as if to call his Bayard to his side. Panic crawled up Shiro’s throat. “Keith-“

The Black Paladin visibly relaxed, rolling a shoulder to keep his body loose. Ready for a fight.  “Shiro is human. He is from Earth.” He announced quietly.

“I am Shiro. And I am of Earth.” The waves of starlight lapped at the piers, shimmering in intensity. “But I was… am… from this realm too.”

Keith’s lips twitched into a frown, but he didn’t immediately lunge for Shiro’s throat. After everything, he should have considered that Keith might not take the concept of reincarnation well. That he might consider him to be an imposter; that he had messed up and brought back the wrong Shiro, a clone.

“It’s hard to explain, but I am Shiro. I have always been Shiro. Or, Shiro has always been me.” Mother protect him, Shiro was bungling this. He ran his human hand through his hair in frustration. “I was born a human, to protect earth when the time came, but it wasn’t… it wasn’t the first time I was born.”

He watched the flare of Keith’s nose as the Paladin inhaled sharply. “Who are you?”

“Takashi Shirogane.”

Keith took another breath, “...And who were you?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. I am Shiro now. Keith, you’ve saved me more times than I can count.” Hesitantly, he added, “And if you don’t believe me, strike me down.”

Leap of faith. His people were all about leaps of faith. Humans always surprised when given a chance. If Keith didn’t believe him, didn’t believe _in_ him, there wasn’t a point any more. An eternity passed. 

“Fine.” Keith shook his head, muttering something soft enough that Shiro couldn't hear it- maybe in Galran? He straightened, stuck his hands into the pockets of his red leather sports jacket, and strolled down the pier to where the Atlas captain almost stumbled in relief.

Keith pulled up to a halt, eyes glancing at the taller man. He nodded his head down the pier to the shore, “What’s with the wolf?”

Shiro froze.

He turned slowly and, sitting perfectly still, as if she had always been there, was a brilliant white wolf just out from the shelter of the bamboo forest. Larger than Kosmo, almost pony-sized, the wolf watched them with steel-grey eyes, a long thick tail curled around her paws. Red markings, intricate and complex in pattern traced her muscles and forehead, a great reflector flaring the colours of rainbows floated just above her back.

He shouldn’t have been surprised. Nothing escaped his mother’s notice in this realm.

His feet moved before his brain caught up, walking slowly down the boards then the sand, then the grass. Keith silently followed a few steps behind. “Shiro?” He whispered.

The wolf tilted her head, eyes blinking slowly as she considered both of them. There was a swirl of leaves and blossoms, and the wolf was replaced by the woman from the mountain. She hadn’t aged a day and Shiro drank in the sight of someone he had never known he missed. “I’m home.”

Amaterasu’s eyes widened, and she brought up a sleeved hand to cover her a mouth as she whispered, “Chibiterasu?”

He shook his head, his own smile wistful, “I’m Shiro now.”

“Shiro, then.” His mother smiled, dropping her hand to reach for his, tears in her eyes, and behind her the few clouds in the sky completely dispersed. Her breathing was tight, and she squeezed his fingers as if to prove he was there. “You’re alive. We weren’t sure if the human body would last long enough for the invasion and when you disappeared-” She stopped herself with a tiny shake of her head and instead asked, “How? You vanished from our sights.”

It was true then. When he died, it had been a true death. A place not even his mother could see to. Shiro swallowed hard. “It’s a long story. But there’s someone I want you to meet.”

He stepped to the side, and Keith froze like a deer in headlights under Amaterasu’s stare. Shiro smiled, “This is Keith and I owe him my life, several times over.”

She mouthed, ‘several’ once to herself, twitching. Her fierce stare had cut men down before, but Keith merely straightened his back and all but growled back her. “Keith, what does he mean by the fact you’ve save his life several times?”

Keith’s lips twitched and suddenly Shiro wasn’t sure why he thought this meeting was a good idea. “Shiro is very good at getting himself into trouble.”

“Is he?” Amaterasu replied drily, prim and proper like the ruler she was. “Well, then it sounds like he is lucky to have you in his corner. I am glad.” She tilted her head like she in her wolf form, and said with a sly grin very much _not_ like a ruler, “And what a pretty man to have there.”

“Mother!” Shiro yelped in surprise.

The older Celestial gave a bell-like laugh with a shake of her head, long white hair flowing with the movement, and ignored it. “Well,” Amaterasu teased, “Are you going to hug your dear old, mother or not? Because that disappearing act of yours scared ten centuries-”

She smelled of the day break. Of the morning mists and warm summer sunshine, of earthy forests, and cut hay fields, and Shiro buried his nose into her hair and tightened his embrace. It felt like an eternity since he last saw her.

He risked a glance behind to a shocked Keith, cheeks bright, bright red, mouthing, “ _Mother?”_ to him and he just laughed.

 

*~*~*~*

_The greatest gamble in the world is to set a god amoung men._

~*~*~*~

 

Omake

 

It was hard to tell who was more baffled by the giant white lion standing in the garden of the so-called Celestials.

Keith blinked twice- his brain not quite computing what had just happened. He had seen how the fur grew out of nowhere, a long feathery tail emerging with it. How Shiro bent over a man and rose a lion greater, taller, broader, than any lion Keith had seen in the old world documentaries.

His fur was astonishingly white. Bright, blinding white that belong to new-fallen snow and it rippled with muscles when the lion- what the quiznak that was _Shiro-_  tried a few practice pounces. He had a mane- a beautiful mane that moved independent of the wind and two pointed ears swiveled, gods strike him down if he lied, adorably.

Disturbingly, Shiro’s own shoulders came up about mid-way on Keith’s chest. The earth almost rumbled as the lion lost his footing and landed on his side. Clumsy in a way Keith had never associated with Shiro before. Like a kitten trying to figure out which way was up.

“I do not understand,” Amaterasu, a God or Celestial or whatever and maybe Shiro’s mother- she was certainly stunning enough for Keith to believe it-, said with a gasp, all decorum forgotten in her shock. Moving quickly over the pathways to the fallen lion’s side in spite of her colourful layers. Her long white hair cascading over her back and contrasted sharply against the blood red of the topmost robe she wore. “Chibi? Why are you a cat?”

It was instinctual on Keith’s part. “Lion. He’s a lion.” His brain shorted out again. “Why is he a lion?”

“I don’t know!” Amaterasu growled, shoulders slumped. She brought up a delicate hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. “He’s supposed to be a wolf.”

Keith looked at her funny, not entirely convinced she wasn’t messing with him.

Shiro gave a huff of laughter, and rolled onto his back to rub against the grass. Paws the size of Keith’s head stretched into the air. Having had his fill apparently, he slumped to one side and tilted his head back to look at Keith. Human eyes. The same steel grey eyes Shiro has always had.

Tension eased from Keith’s shoulders. He took a silent couple of steps forward to crouch down on the grass. Close enough he could reach out and touch the fur-

Shiro smirking at him was the only warning he had before a paw whipped out, caught and pulled him in. The fur was warm like a patch of sand in the summer sun. Shiro smelt of the forest. An impossibility given how long they had been in space. Keith protested loudly and half-heartedly- pushing against the furred chest of the beast that was Shiro as two front paws drew him in- one as regular as a magical white lion could have, the other with the sharp lines in the glowing blue of the prosthetic he wore as a human. “Oh come on-” It was a futile gesture. Shiro was stupidly strong as a man and that strength had easily doubled.

Keith probably could have broken out of the hold if he put some effort into it, but Shiro was purring, a thunderous rumble of happiness that reverberated through his chest and he just didn’t have the heart. A great big, sandpaper tongue started grooming his hair for him and Keith admitted defeat.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on [Tumblr](https://basicallyanidiot.tumblr.com/)! Better yet- prompt me! I'm trying to write each day and prompts would be super fun to experiment with.


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